Learn Finnish: Laatikossa on kuusitoista kynää ja kuusikymmentä kirjaa. - There are sixteen pens and sixty books in the box.

Finnish doesn't have a direct translation for "there is" or "there are". Instead, to say that something exists in a place, you start the sentence with the location (laatikossa), then use the verb on (is), and finally say what is there.

Why is the verb on (is) used here instead of the plural ovat (are)?

When you use this "location + verb + thing" structure to say what exists somewhere, the verb is always the singular on. Even though there are many pens and books, Finnish never uses the plural ovat for this specific type of sentence.

Why are the words for pen (kynää) and book (kirjaa) in the partitive form instead of a normal plural?

In Finnish, any number greater than one forces the noun that follows it into the partitive singular form. So, instead of a plural form, you use kynää (partitive of kynä) after 16, and kirjaa (partitive of kirja) after 60.

How do the number words kuusitoista (16) and kuusikymmentä (60) work?